The World

Immigration to Israel has fallen to its lowest annual level since the Jewish state was created in 1948, official statistics showed. In 1985, 11,298 immigrants arrived in Israel, 41% fewer than in 1984, the Ministry of Immigrant Absorption said. The 1985 figure includes about 8,000 Ethiopian Jews. The previous low was 11,326 in 1953. "One problem is the economic difficulties we are experiencing," ministry spokesman Gad Ben-Ari said. "It doesn't make Israel attractive right now." Immigration from the Soviet Union last year was 342, nearly the same figure as 1984.